Anthony Bradley, Masculinity
Over on the Resurgence Blog, Covenant Seminary professor Anthony Bradley has written a helpful post about masculinity. Anthony exposes false masculinity, highlights true masculinity, and explains the critical role fathers play in leading their sons through healthy, masculine, Christian development.
Here’s an excerpt from Anthony’s post:
America’s emasculated and feminized evangelical churches are complicit with their pink and purple interior walls, grooming boys to be nice, sweet little boys who never bleed, and presenting a Jesus who is not a warrior fighting for a kingdom but a holy “Oprah."
I think Anthony’s masculine lament is on target. Click here to read the full post.
Wow, OUCH….I just read Anthony’s “masculine lament” from your link and my heart hurts. As a christian marriage and family therapist this perspective he shares is not abstract to me. I see the anguished, hurting faces of teenage boys and men in their twenties that I’ve counseled over the years around this core issue. I agree that this has been going on for generations between fathers and sons and that it deeply hurts hearts, minds and souls of boys as they seek to become men in Gods own image. It hurts mens concepts of who God is and how to relate to him. What is sad is that in order for Dads to really understand at a visceral level the longing in their sons cry for a manly example,relationship and connection with them, they have to get in touch with their own pain, which many times they have crusted over and dismissed…..too painful to keep experiencing. Empathy takes that willingness to feel something with someone. As I see it, the HOPE and the healing are in the wounds of Jesus and his sacrificial, protective love for us on the cross. HE is the father we all need in every single ounce of his strength, passion, warrior protection and perfect mix of tender love too. The hope for healing is as men connect with Christ’s perfect masculinity and get filled up with his love, they then will have a model and source for overflow to give out. The only source “living water” for all of us both male and female. There is something so awesome and wonderful about how God has created the strength of a man that we sure don’t want to water down. It doesn’t take away from relationship or connection at all because look at our Lord – he is the perfect example of that strength with a pursuing love that desires to connect with us all the time. Great topic!
